The tally of homeless families in Boston spiked by 25 percent this year, a result of “stagnant wages and increasing costs of housing, child care, and other essentials,” an advocacy group and a city official said Tuesday.

FamilyAid Boston, the group that tracked the statistics, said in a statement the city’s annual homeless census in February showed there were “1,543 homeless families in the city, an increase of 25% over last year’s census.”

by David AbelNew security cameras are in place, along with new plumbing, heating, and electrical systems. The floors have been redone with vinyl tiles, the leaky roof repaired, and the walls repainted.Months after city officials said it would be ready, the old city building in Mattapan will become home this month to addiction recovery and prisoner reentry programs that were closed in October when the city abruptly condemned a bridge leading to their former home on Long Island. City officials had said the stately brick building on River Street, which will provide about 75 beds to former inmates and drug addicts, would be finished in November.The delay has meant some of the city’s most vulnerable residents have gone six months without vital services. And the building’s opening comes a week after city officials acknowledged they would need several months to complete another new shelter on Southampton Street for hundreds of homeless people who also lived on Long Island.

Time stopped in October for two drug treatment centers on Boston’s Long Island, when the city shut down the bridge that was the only route to their facilities.Both had to abandon their offices on the island. Their clients — poor and trying to kick drug habits — had to seek alternative services. Hundreds of thousands of dollars in funding for treatment have been lost.Now, the problems have multiplied. The centers filed insurance claims under their “business interruption” policies, expecting to recover enough money to set up new service sites. Their claims were rejected.

Old South Church in Copley Square, with support from a coalition of interfaith leaders and congregations from across Greater Boston, plans to open two of its rooms on Monday as a temporary daytime warming center for the homeless.Clergy spearheading the “Boston Warm” effort say the need for the shelter underscores the shortcomings of the city’s response to the hundreds of homeless people displaced last fall. A structurally unsound bridge to Long Island was closed abruptly, cutting off access to the city’s main emergency shelter and recovery houses.

Three weeks ago, asbestos tiles covered the floors and many of the windows were cracked or drafty. Grimy paint peeled off plaster walls also filled with asbestos, and an array of bulky tools littered the old workshop where for decades city workers made signs, meters, and traffic lights.Since then, in a feat of unparalleled speed for any previous city building, the Boston Transportation Department’s old sign shop has been completely transformed into the city’s new shelter for the homeless -- with $2 million worth of new floors, walls, plumbing, lighting, fire alarms, sheetrock, paint, electrical and heating systems, and much more.

by David AbelWith temperatures expected to plummet below zero this week, city officials and homeless advocates are racing to find more space to house the surge of people sleeping on the streets since the city’s largest shelter on Long Island closed last fall.

By David AbelThe city in the next few weeks will begin building a new shelter in Boston’s Newmarket area for the hundreds of homeless displaced from Long Island, Mayor Martin J. Walsh told reporters on Monday.The squat, brick building at 112 Southhampton St. will require significant upgrades, as it currently lacks showers and may require a host of other renovations to prepare it for more than 450 people who relied on the refuge on Boston Harbor. The Long Island Shelter was closed in October after the city abruptly condemned the bridge that connects it with the mainland.

BOSTON -- On October 8, Mayor Martin J. Walsh – under the advisement of various City departments, agencies and leaders, and the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) – made the decision to close the Long Island Bridge and evacuate the programs located on Long Island. “This was a difficult, but necessary, decision that was made in the interest of public safety. This bridge has been a source of grave concern for many years, and I was not willing to risk the possibility of disaster for one more night, with the data presented to us about the serious condition of the bridge,” said Mayor Walsh. “In the weeks following the bridge closure, a light post fell down and crashed onto the bridge, directly where vehicles traveled to and from the Island. My team made a series of tough judgment calls in the interest of public safety, and we are confident that we made the right decision.” There was not one incident, injury, or any bridge collapse that led to this decision. The decision to close the Bridge was made in an abundance of caution, following long-running concerns about the structural integrity of the Bridge. Following the decision to close the Bridge, the City activated its Continuity of Operations Plan to ensure that all needs of the clients who utilize the programs at Long Island are met while the Bridge is closed. Since the bridge closure, the City and partners have maintained an equal, or greater, number of beds for our homeless and recovery guests. The following is a comprehensive update on the status of the Long Island Bridge, programs, and operations.

All the fury over the closing of the Long Island homeless shelter spilled out at a South End forum last night with one woman declaring: “We are not dogs!”

Hundreds packed the Blackstone Community Center to get answers from city officials about the future of Long Island after the bridge was abruptly shut down last month after being deemed unsafe to travel on.This move has displaced about 700 homeless people living on the island.

by David Abel, Globe StaffTrailing the flashing lights of a police escort, the city bus completed its journey in front of a bleak building in the South End, where more officers and guards were waiting.Out filed some of the 700 former residents of Long Island, where the city’s largest homeless shelter operated until earlier this month — before officials condemned the only bridge leading to the refuge on Boston Harbor.

Now, the city’s homeless pack into a former fitness center, while city officials hastily seek a more permanent solution to the loss of about one-third of the city’s available beds.They live in cramped, disorienting conditions with fewer amenities and social services than they had on Long Island. Instead of beds, they sleep on pillowless cots, set inches apart in a windowless room. Bright lights stay on all night. There are long lines to use the two bathrooms. Fans swirl humid air.Read more and watch the video at BostonGlobe.com

by Rachel RileyMayor Martin J. Walsh is closing the Long Island Bridge, the gateway to myriad social services for hundreds of disadvantaged individuals, his office announced Wednesday.The bridge to Long Island, which is located in Boston Harbor, is likely to be closed for an extended period of time as a precautionary measure following concerns about the span’s structural stability, according to a statement from Walsh’s office.Read more at BostonGlobe.com